Currents and Swells in Maltese Identity Representations of Community in Maltese Poetry in English Since Independence

Currents and Swells in Maltese Identity Representations of Community in Maltese Poetry in English Since Independence STELLA BORG BARTHET OMMUNAL IDENTITY EMERGES from the interface between the subjective position of the individual and his or her social and cul- C tural situation. This becomes, in turn, a highly effective modulating influence on individual behaviour. Though we may barely be conscious of it, our sense of identity is often a cue to our responses, suggesting ways in which we relate to others and to the world in which we live. Identities are represented in art and are operative in the development of technology. Produced in culture, identities are regulated and consumed in society. Artistic representations of communal identity are necessary for the cohesion of society. Communities often make use of art in creating myths and traditions to promote social cohesion. This is art as a function of society. As an example, the mbari festivals held to honour the earth goddess among the Igbo of Nigeria unite villagers in creating sculptures that give shape to the villagers’ sense of community. As Chinua Achebe shows, mbari set out to include “all significant encounters which man makes in his journey through life, especially new, unaccustomed and thus potentially threatening encounters.”1 In a similar way, Maltese poetry has often provided forms through which new relationships could be explored. In the past in Malta, threatening encounters took place when one master replaced another – Romans, Arabs, Knights of St John, British. New adminis- trations would cut across older loyalties and create new affiliations – often at 1 Chinua Achebe, “African Literature as Restoration of Celebration,” Kunapipi 12.2 (1990): 3. 198 STELLA BORG BARTHET ½¾ the cost of the lives and fortunes of our forefathers. The Maltese often resisted masters – from Aragon and Sicily, from France and from Britain. At the same time, centuries of foreign domination made many ordinary Maltese people complacent about being governed by outsiders. The desire to remain tied to its patrons can be seen in the pursuit of unity with Italy in the years leading up to the Second World War and, in the late 1950s, in the attempt of the Malta Labour Party to obtain full integration with Britain. As Godfrey Baldacchino puts it, Independence in 1964 was for many Maltese a ‘second-best’ option that they accepted, rather than the result of some hard struggle to overthrow a colonial master.2 At the same time, it is important to note that a foreign governing class did not stop the growth of Malta’s statehood and nationality. Henry Frendo traces the origins of modern Malta to the coming of the Knights of St John. These regarded Malta as their home or at least as a permanent base and “laid the infrastructure of a state” through the construction of towns and villages. As Frendo notes, the Maltese insurrection of 1798 shows that culture, nationality, and politics had by this time shaped Maltese identity.3 Despite changes in administration, Maltese identity remained fairly stable until the late 1960s. The writings of the national poet Dun Karm encapsulate this identity – in poems such as “Nhar San Gwann,” “Lil Malta ta’ Llum u ta’ Ghada,” “Lil Malta,” and “Progress,” the Maltese are characterized by their deference to the authority of the Catholic Church, the near-worship of the fig- ure of the chaste Mother within the traditional family, a rural or pure form of Maltese language, and the fear of anything modern or foreign.4 Such extreme conservatism in culture and art suited most Maltese until the end of the Second World War, when developments in industry, tourism, and communi- cations started remaking both land and mind scapes. In the mid-1960s, young writers portraying contemporary Maltese identity did this primarily by rejecting established values. As Daniel Massa puts it, writers such as Victor Fenech, Lino Spiteri, Mario Azzopardi, Francis Ebejer, Frans Sammut, Alfred Sant and others “seemed to reject the sclerosis of aging institutions, and in an attempt at renewal threatened withdrawal from ‘the 5 older cultures’.” 2 Godfrey Baldacchino, “A Nationless State? Malta, National Identity and the EU,” West European Politics 25.4 (October 2002): 195. 3 Henry Frendo, “National Identity,” in Malta: Culture and Identity, ed. Henry Frendo & Oliver Friggieri (Ministry of Youth and the Arts, Malta): 51–59, 4–5. 4 In Dun Karm: Il-poeziji migbura, ed. Oliver Friggieri (Malta: Klabb Kotba Maltin, 1980). 5 Daniel Massa, “Contemporary Maltese Literature: An Interim Report,” in Contributions to Mediterranean Studies, ed. Mario Vassallo (University of Malta, 1977): 266. .

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